An assessment of street hawkers response to new market sites in Eldoret town, Kenya

Abstract

Street vending contributes to a significant share of the urban informal economy through reducing poverty and unemployment. The number of street vendors in Kenya has increased as they take up street trade as a means of survival strategy. The government is increasingly coming to terms with addressing domestic economic problems and has been incorporating policies aimed at boosting this sector in its documents, an example being Sessional Paper No. 2 of 1992, which addressed specific means of promoting conducive environment for business. The same emphasis is also laid in the current Development Plan of Vision 2030 which asserts that most of the employment in trade is found in the informal sector and aims at providing secure business location, credit, training and access to markets. Even though a lot has been undertaken to promote the sector, little effect has been seen as more vendors return to the streets rendering the initiatives unsuccessful. This study sought to assess hawkers response to new market sites in Eldoret town using emdedded research design. The objectives of the study were to examine the factors behind relocation, to assess the effects of relocation on street vending in Eldoret town, to establish the challenges emanating from the relocation on street vendors operation, to explore appropriate strategies of addressing street vending in the town. The targeted population was vendors in Kenya. The source population was 4,052 vendors at Kahoya and West markets.Proportionate sampling was used to select a representative sample from Kahoya and West markets. Purposive sampling was used to select West and Kahoya markets and 30 key informants who were interviewed. Systematic random sampling was used to draw the actual 384 respondents from each market who filled the questionnaires. In addition, observation and photography were used to collect data. Data analysis employed quantitative techniques on the questionnaires and qualitative methods for content analysis. It was established that the relocation sites were not economically viable for trading, vendors experienced challenges thus resorted to selling at the CBD. It is suggested that by ensuring vendor involvement can planned urban change be accomplished, major activities be decetralised away from the CBD, on street space allocation could be tried, develop natural markets, and urban planners should consider long term viability of future projects.